A Troubling Classroom Lesson

Schools Forced To Take Chances On Substitute Teachers

Instead, the new substitute teacher delivered a lesson in human behavior that 13-year-old Brian Burrage will never forget.

``He was stumbling around the place and screaming at us, saying `Do the damn graph, do the damn graph,' '' Brian said, chuckling. ``The whole class was laughing at him and goofing off because we knew he was drunk. You could smell it on his breath.''

``Then he walked up behind me and smacked me on the back of the head.''

The substitute, who was not identified by school officials, was eventually escorted from Enfield's John F. Kennedy Middle School by the principal -- but not until another class had been subjected to his teaching methods, and not until a student had complained.

Brian's class was given a 15-minute lecture on the need to report such incidents more promptly.

The substitute was told not to return.

The incident, which occurred three weeks ago, is over as far as the Enfield school system is concerned, but not necessarily for the rest of the state.

The same substitute -- and his problems -- could show up in another Connecticut classroom any day, few questions asked. And there is very little any school system can do to prevent it.

``An incident like Enfield forces everyone to rethink what they are doing and see that procedures are in place to make sure that it doesn't happen again,'' said Paul V. Sequeira, school superintendent in New Britain, where it is not unusual for 20 substitutes a day to be in charge of classrooms.

``We try to be very astute and to do interviews and reference checks,'' Sequeira said, echoing school administrators in other districts. ``But how do we know whether someone is a child abuser or an alcoholic? We don't. We are still taking a chance.''

`You always take a chance'

The fact is, no matter how careful a school system tries to be, when it comes to hiring substitutes it always takes a chance. There are few laws or guidelines defining who can be in the classroom. And, say some educators, in the mad morning scramble for substitutes that occurs around the state every day, it's a wonder that more incidents like the one in Enfield don't occur.

In Enfield it was the new substitute teacher's first day on the job. He came armed with the minimum state requirements -- a college degree and fingerprint check. Both are relatively new standards in the world of substitute teaching, the result of growing concerns about screening candidates before they enter a classroom. The fingerprint law was passed in 1994. The bachelor's degree requirement -- which can be waived in rare circumstances -- was passed in 1993.

But background checks and references and interviews, no matter how thorough, only go so far. College degrees don't train substitutes to handle discipline problems in the classroom. And fingerprinting only detects those with criminal records.

``You always take a chance,'' acknowledged Janet Peichert, acting assistant administrator with the Hartford school system. Peichert oversees a pool of about 150 regular substitutes, many of whom work more than half of the days in the school year. Problems, when they occur, are usually related to the substitute's inability to control the class, Peichert said.

``When there is an unfortunate situation like Enfield, what do you do?'' Peichert said. ``You can't take away certification because substitutes don't have to be certified. And you can't report the incident because there is nowhere to report.''

In any case, it's not clear what could be reported. In the Enfield case, no formal charges were filed against the substitute. His name was simply placed on a list of people who will not be called again.

There is little further action the school system can take. It cannot discipline -- or fire -- someone who is not an employee. It doesn't have medical proof that the substitute was actually under the influence. It cannot offer counseling or help. And it is too worried about legal ramifications to warn other districts that the individual is probably a poor candidate for teaching.

All of which means that the same substitute can -- without much difficulty -- wind up in another classroom.

``Our legislators have given a great deal of time into drafting laws concerning the certification of teachers,'' said Enfield school board member Paul Dery. ``But there is not a word about substitute teachers, their ethics or conduct. Obviously something ought to be done to prevent a recurrence, in Enfield or anywhere else.''

Registry of substitutes

Dery suggested a centralized registry of substitutes, operated by the state, where problems could be reported and school systems could share information.

But state Sen. Kevin B. Sullivan, D- West Hartford, a longtime member of the legislature's education committee, pointed to the inherent problems in setting up such a system.

``What would be the standards?'' he asked. ``What kind of things do you disclose and not disclose?''